Here I am in the middle of nowhere. Have you ever heard of New Caledonia before? I certainly didn’t. When I checked out flights to Singapore I saw that the plane had an overlay in New Caledonia. I had to check it out for sure! Apparently this is French territory just like French Polynesia. It’s an archipelago of different islands in the southern pacific as well. Tugged away between Australia and New Zealand. Crazy, that this is European territory. Just like Tahiti I didn’t need a visa or anything. Even the food culture is quite European. You get baguettes, pain au chocolates and the good cheeses Europe has! I guess the imports are cheaper, because they pay different taxes on European products. But hey, I am just happy to have some decent bread and cheese. After Central America this is a welcome change.

The history of colonialism is straight up visible and Europeans can still use some of these for their advantages. For instance, French citizens in the public sector can come and work here and get 1.8 times their original salary. If this is helping the citizens or if it is pricing out the natives of their own home is up to debate. Same goes for French Polynesia.

The Airport is like a similar shitty airport in Germany. It has the name of the city Noumea. It is far away from the actual city, though. It takes about two hours by bus. This invokes the same question as in Germany. Who the fuck thought this would be a great idea?

I always imagine these planners to argue like this:

“What if we built the international airport far away from the city?”

“Brilliant! Thats the way to do it! We still name it Noumea so tourists have to pay for transportaion!”

“How about we build the international airport far away, but the national airport close to the city?”

“Even better! People can take the bus to miss their national connection flight!”

“Great idea! So it’s settled then”

The climate is very pleasant. You can take more than three steps and your t-shirt isn’t drenched in sweat! In fact you can take a walk and you’re not sweating at all! This is a welcome change after the humid Tahiti. The sun is not to be underestimated though. The missing ozone layer has to be countered by an extra layer of sun lotion!

When I walk around the city it feels like a ghost town. It was hard to find even a café, that is open. Only at the market square there was a Café and some people. The reason is of course a Sunday. On a Sunday everything is closed. I am looking forward to the next day. To my dismay the first of may is a holiday here as well. All supermarkets are closed and literally nobody is on the street. It feels to me that this town has no life at all… I walk around tired, jetlag driven and grumpy that everything is closed. Swimming is currently forbidden as well. Apparently there was a shark attack few weeks prior. All beaches are closed until further notice. Great… I had to buy some groceries at the gas station. Otherwise I would have starved. My walk escalated a bit. I ended up walking 20km. I guess Noumea is bigger than I thought.

On my walk I found a park for hiking. Glad about the nature I walk up there: The nature is clearly different to the tropics of Tahiti. It is more dry. At least coconut palms are still growing here. When I reach the top of the hill, I see people paragliding. I am amazed how they fly over island. They can recognize the uplifting airstreams and fly without ease. That must be an amazing feeling!

My thoughts begin to wander as I daze onto the vast ocean. Wow I am really traveling the world. I can’t help it but smile. Smile on the scenes this earth has to offer. Smile on how many things I have seen. How many situations I have experienced. Pleasant, unpleasant, strange or beautiful. These experiences shaped my knowledge and understanding on how the world ticks. How different cultures like different things. I have somewhat been drifting around like those paragliders. Free of obligations and tasks. Just going were the wind is carrying me. Only driven by the desire to see the world and surf. Just an incredible feeling of freedom. Unfortunately not every person on this earth has this freedom. Some are restricted by their passport, while others are restricted by their own mind.

The obligatory Kava experience was still missing on my list. Kava is very popular on all southern pacific islands. Kava is a psychoactive drink made out of the Kava root. No before you say anything, coffee is also a psychoactive drink. On some islands it is a sacred ceremony. One day I stroll around. I want to check out a peninsula by foot. I miscalculated. It is too far away. I put my thumb up to hitchhike there. A person in a pretty old car stops by. It’s the person in the picture. He wants to go to a sort of bar. Since I don’t have any plans I just join as well. There are just a few people there when we get there. The vibe is still pretty weird. They invite me to the first round of Kava. Soon the place is filled with people. It has become a very social place. Everyone is gathering for the sunset with the occasional cup of Kava. How does Kava feel? I would say the opposite of coffee. It makes you relaxed. The tongue gets a little numb just like a sedative.

On my last day on New Caledonia, I head to an island named Signal. You can take a small taxi boat to the island. It takes about half an hour. My heart is racing, as we cross the ocean. I still have the boat ride of Colombia in mind. Here the boat is up to standards, though. The sea is very quiet, too. Phew no horror boat ride for me today. We get to the island and it is truly paradise. A small island where 5 other people roam around. One sailing yacht is anchored at the bay.

The water is clear and the reef is pretty vibrant. It doesn’t take long for me to go swimming. I swim around until suddenly a turtle is swimming next to me. Some colorful fish again, too. I feel like fish myself. I probably spend an hour in the water. Here I meet three French people, that are actually open and speak English. One of them is living on New Caledonia. She even knows how to spot a few sea creatures! We swim around, follow the turtles and fish until we go out again.

When we get out, we see three fins circling the shallow water. This must be sharks again. My new friends start a small barbeque and invite me. They have sausages, baguettes and ketchup and beer. You don’t have to tell me twice for sausages and beer. I just wish I met these people earlier. They even invited me to their next adventure the next day. Unfortunately I have to catch a flight to Singapore.

Free food seemed to be a recurring theme lately. I got invited for food by Naji. I met him on Moorea. He is an elderly man. He cooks food by the bulk and invites people in the hostel. I had some really good meals with him Moorea already. Luckily I had the same route as him and we met again in the hostel in Noumea. Another good meal was presented to me.

The island is pretty small and you can circle it in 20 minutes. If I would have known that you can camp on the island, I would have definitely slept here. When I circled it, I found massive shells and crazy birds. Apparently when you sleep on the island these birds make creepy sounds, that sound like crying babies.

After that simple but amazing barbeque we head straight back to the water to explore the reef a little bit more. Soon we find a shark hiding under a cove on the rocks. Sharks usually sleep on days and hunt at night. Unfortunately we woke him up. The shark then swam around and searched for a different place to rest. We also found different fish and turtles again. I could even hear the fish munching on the reef.

The time has come and I have to head east for a different type of adventure. Stay tuned!